When They Come For Me
by Consulting Storyteller
Summary: Basically a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast for the Star Trek reboot world, starring the newly-esaped Khan (as the beast) and my OC Ava (as the beauty). Ava allows herself to be taken prisoner on Khan's ship to save her family when he and his crew attack her home planet. Meanwhile Kirk and the Enterprise crew are close on Khan's tail. Action and romance ensue.
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was late at night when the ship came. There was no warning save for a dull roar that started softly, cutting through the quiet like a swarm of bees, then growing in intensity until it seemed to fill every empty space left in the city, pulsing with menacing energy, as though attempting to push everything else out until only it remained. A whistling noise followed by an explosion cut out sharply through the hum next. Outside the windows, the dark sky turned a deep blood red, lit by the flickering outlines of flames that could be seen over tree lines in the distance. Then the screams started; a few at first, their numbers soon joined by more until finally a whole chorus could be heard just beneath the roar of the ship. In the town streets, people began to emerge from their front doors looking around in curious terror, trying to make some sense of what was going on. Just as the humming noise reached a deafening pitch, a giant spaceship loomed through the sky over their heads, cutting straight through the smoke. The screaming intensified, but no more bombs were dropped. Instead the ship sailed straight through the sky toward the governor's home, located at the far edge of town on a hill. As it flew over their heads, the screams began to shape words, words that had been known to strike fear in the hearts of many in the past, words that they had been told were no longer a threat, words that most people had not worried about in hundreds of years.

Words that were written on the side of the spaceship flying above their heads right now.

The S.S. Botany Bay.


	2. The Alert

1

The U.S.S. Enterprise was abuzz with action, the sounds of dozens of musically beeping instruments filling the air as a very satisfied Captain James Tiberius Kirk reclaimed his usual position at the captain's chair. Also as usual, his good friend Leonard McCoy was right over his shoulder.

"Jim, if you pull another stunt like that again we're going to be short one very valuable Captain."

"Relax, Bones! I got us out, didn't I?"

"But you could have been killed! You're acting like challenging the leader of a primitive alien race to a duel is a regular walk in the park."

"Well they weren't going to let you go, what was I supposed to do?"

"All due respect Captain, I appreciate you saving my life, but my life isn't as important as yours."

"Bones." The boyish smile fell from Kirk's face as he fixed his friend with a serious stare. "I never want to hear you talk like that again. The Enterprise needs her doctor just as much as she needs her captain, and her first officer, and her lieutenant, and her chief engineer, and everyone else on board. And above all else I need my friend. Got that?"

Bones nodded grudgingly.

"Yeah I guess. But really Jim, I think-"

"Great. And speaking of first officers, where's Spock? He's supposed to be in here helping with preparations for our next assignment."

Bones looked grumpy at having been cut off but answered anyway. "I haven't seen him since we got back to the ship."

But they weren't left wondering for long. The double doors to the control room swished open and the half-Vulcan man stepped through them at a quick pace.

"Captain, I need a word. Immediately."

"Sure Spock. What's wrong?"

Spock glanced around at the rest of the crew in the room. Behind them, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was busy at work typing away at her screen. In front of them, Ensign Pavel Chekov and Commander Hikaru Sulu were carefully going over navigational charts in the Enterprise's system, making sure everything was up to date. Everyone was doing exactly what he or she needed to be doing. But Spock looked uncomfortable.

"I do not think that here would be the best place."

Kirk studied him quizzically for a moment but nodded.

"Lead the way."

Kirk and Bones followed Spock out to the hallway beyond. Kirk thought he saw Uhura throw a curious glance their way as they walked past, but she said nothing. When the doors had swung shut behind them, Spock turned back to face the other two again.

"Okay, Spock. What is going on?"

"I am sorry Captain. I simply did not wish to cause any kind of panic in the control room. But I have received some worrying news from the main headquarters of Starfleet."

"How bad?"

"I must remind you, Captain, to try and react with as calm an attitude as possible considering the cir-"

"He'll be fine, just spit it out, man!" Bones snapped. Spock blinked.

"The bodies of Khan and all 72 of his crew members have gone missing from their cryotubes. They're gone, Captain."


	3. The Arrival

2

Ava could not later tell what woke her up first: the hum, the smoke, the screams, or the distant sounds of an explosion. All she knew the moment she opened her eyes was that something was very wrong. She leapt from her bed and hurried to the window to find fire on the horizon and a giant shining ship landing in her family's vast front yard. The shock almost froze her limbs for a moment too long, but she caught herself and took off across the room, flinging open her door and sprinting down the hall.

"Mom! Dad! Someone's here… I think we're under attack!"

She continued shouting all the way down the hall, cursing the long twisting hallways of the mansion, whose distance from her parents she had appreciated so much when she'd been living here as a teenager. Now, that very same distance was the most agonizing thing in the world.

"Mom! Dad!"

And all the sudden, there they were.

They came running from their bedroom, gazing around wildly.

"Ava! What's going on?"

"I… I don't know." Ava was panting, trying to catch her breath. "I just saw… fire… and a ship… I think we're under attack."

Instantly, she saw both of her parents' expressions drop from panic to business mode. Her mother, Iliana, stepped forward.

"Did you see where the ship is now?"

"It was parking just outside the mansion."

"They'll be at our doorstep any minute then."

Ava's father, Kenneth, turned back into the bedroom and emerged with two phaser guns, tossing one to his wife in one swift motion.

"Let's go see what they want." He flipped the gun up, setting it to kill.

Ava looked from one to the other. "Give me a gun too. I want to help. The two of you can't face them alone, who knows how many people were in that ship? It was huge!"

"If they landed here instead of just bombing us, there might be a chance that they would be open to negotiations. They might not attack at all. But in case they do, Ava…"

Her mother turned tilted up her chin so that Ava was looking directly into her eyes; the same bright turquoise eyes that Ava herself had inherited. It was a gesture both comforting and infuriatingly patronizing all at once.

"Ava, you need to stay up here. Hide. Please. Don't let them see you. No matter what you hear, just please… don't come downstairs."

"Mom I can't-"

"_Ava_. Promise me."

Ava swallowed the lump of fear that had risen in her throat, not wanting to appear weak at such delicate moment. When she finally forced out the words, it was like pulling teeth with every syllable.

"I promise."

"Thank you."

Then there was a resounding crash of a knock on the front door a floor below them, and her parents were gone, off to face the unknown foe.


	4. The Attack

3

Ava couldn't stand to wait upstairs without being able to see the action below. She inched down as far as she dared onto the staircase so that she was still concealed by shadows, but could have a relatively clear view of the goings-on. As her parents took their defensive positions in front of the polished mahogany door, phasers at the ready, there was one more booming knock, followed by a resounding crash. The door flew open.

In walked three figures dressed all in black: a man and a woman flanking both sides of a tall, looming man in the center. He was clearly the leader. He walked with such purpose, emanating power with each stride as he held his head high, his long black coat rippling menacingly in the wind stirred by the opening of the door. It was as though his face were carved straight out of white marble, with sharp strong features, and eyes so pale and cruel that they might have been chips of ice. When he spoke, his voice rang in the lowest octaves of sound, seeping in to penetrate the heart with fear.

"The ancient Greeks had a tradition they called _xenia_. They expected every stranger to be treated with hospitality, no questions asked, operating on the chance that anyone they met could possibly be a god in disguise."

"Are you comparing yourself to a god?" Ava's father spoke out in defiance, his voice as unwavering as the gun he was still holding in the intruder's face.

"No. But I am warning you that you should be careful who you point that phaser at."

"Why should I lower my weapon to the man who has attacked my city?"

"We only dropped one bomb... and it was out in a field with no one around. It was a warning."

"A warning of what exactly?" Iliana snarled.

"Of what will happen to the city if you fail to cooperate with us."

"Tell us who you are."

A chilling smirk played across the man's lips, which seemed to irk Kenneth even more.

"As the federation-appointed governor for this outpost I order you to-"

"_My name is Khan_. And I take orders from no one, especially not the federation."

Silence fell.

"Ah, good. So it would seem my reputation precedes me?

"But you… you're supposed to be…"

"Asleep in the cryotube where Starfleet decided to stow me again? That little prison was never going to hold me forever. I am not the only one who has escaped again either, we all have. All seventy-two of my crewmates. And we are ready to take down the entire federation, planet by planet. This happens to be stop number five. So, here are your options."

Kenneth and Iliana held their ground, glaring at Khan but remaining silent. At the sound of his name, they had realized just how dire the situation truly was.

"Option number one, we kill you both and take over the planet. Option number two, you surrender to us immediately, and are allowed to stay on as a puppet government while my people give the true orders so that we may take over the planet."

"And what if we choose neither?"

Kenneth fired his phaser with a reflex so fast that Ava's eyes barely even caught it as it happened, but Khan was still faster. He stepped to the side as though the blast were nothing more than a passing breeze. His eyes flashed.

"Very well then. Just know that it did not have to be this way. Kill them."

At Khan's order, his two cronies sprang into action. Ava's parents continued to fire at them but the shots did nothing. Both people had on thick metal bracelets around their wrists that they held up to deflect the shots with. Ava watched in horror as her parents were forced to put their weapons aside and engage in hand-to-hand combat with their attackers instead. But Khan's people were much faster and stronger than her parents. She could barely believe what she saw, as their movements were inhumanly quick and precise. There was no way her parents could win the fight, and as Khan stood back with a satisfied leer on his face, his female crony threw Kenneth to the ground to administer a final blow.

Ava knew this was how her parents intended for the situation to go. They wanted her to get out: to escape, and go help the rest of the city while they died rather than follow Khan's cause. They all knew the stories, and they all knew what his rule over their planet would mean. But as Ava watched the events unfold, she knew she couldn't let it happen. This planet still needed her parents to protect them, not some university student who hadn't even graduated from Starfleet Academy yet. But they would never back down and she knew it. Unless…

There was still one card she could play.

Before Khan's crony could strike, Ava was down the stairs and grabbing onto her wrist to stop the blow.

"No! Stop!"

The woman snarled and turned her attention to Ava, throwing her off her wrist and onto the ground. Ava felt her hip hit hard, and knew it would leave a bad bruise, but tried to ignore the pain and struggle back to a sitting position.

"What's this?" Khan stepped forward now, surveying Ava where she lay, glaring up at him.

"Ava, no!" Iliana's voice broke as she tried to go to her daughter, but the male crony held her back.

"Mom, it's okay. I know what I'm doing."

Slowly but surely, Ava rose to her feet to look into the empty eyes of the man towering above her.

"They will do as you say. Just please, don't kill them."

"Oh really?"

Khan was smirking derisively, as though he found the entire situation so quaintly amusing, which only made Ava angrier.

"Yes. Really." She took a deep breath. "Take me. If you take me as a prisoner, it will be the perfect leverage. They'll do whatever you say."

"Ava you can't." Her father's voice had a pleading tone to it but Ava braced herself and ignored it, continuing to direct her statements at Khan and refusing to break that chilling gaze.

"Yes I can. You can place your puppet government here. Just don't kill my parents. Please."

Khan studied her for a moment, sizing her up. The infuriating smile had faded from his face to be replaced by an almost thoughtful look, if Ava wasn't much mistaken. Something seemed to be occurring to him.

"Deal," he said, finally.

"Please, no, we'll-"

"Your daughter will remain safe upon our ship as long as you obey our orders. And your lives will be spared. Perhaps you'll learn to appreciate the new regime eventually. And who knows? Maybe we'll even let you see each other again someday."

Khan grabbed Ava and pulled her swiftly toward him. He held out his hand to his male crony, who produced a thick pair of silver cuffs, which Khan snapped around her wrists. Ava stared at them in a state of numb shock. She'd never really thought about it before, how demeaning it would feel to be a prisoner. Now, it made her stomach boil with indignation and frustration and the unbearable hopelessness of the situation. When she turned her eyes back up to Khan's to glare at him, all she could see looking back at her was satisfaction etched in every line of his. She hated him.

Khan turned back to Ava's parents, both of whom had silent tears running down their faces.

"This is Shatara Raghib and this is Gideon Barrett," Khan motioned the woman and man who were still guarding them as he spoke. "They will be overseeing the proceedings here on Astraea from now on. And if you fail to cooperate, you'll find the consequences most… unpleasant." Khan's eyes found Ava's again here, and she knew what it meant: if her parents didn't cooperate, she would be the one who was punished.

"So if everyone is clear on the circumstances, I think it is time for us to be off."

"Wait! Can't I… Can't I just say goodbye?" Ava could hear the tremble in her voice and inwardly cursed herself for it. Khan narrowed his eyes at her.

"Briefly."

One by one, Shatara and Gideon lowered their guard on Ava's parents and allowed them to walk up to her. Her father gave her a silent hug and a look that conveyed every ounce of anger he felt at having to lose her. Her mother gave her a hug as well and whispered, just so Ava alone could barely hear, "Stay strong."

And then Khan was pulling her away roughly, leading her out the front door and towards his ship, the Botany Bay. Away from her parents, away from the home she had grown up in, away from the life she had been building for herself, away from every hope of safety and comfort.

The great silver door slid open…


	5. A Meeting

4

"Five planets?!"

"That is what headquarters' readings have indicated."

"But how is Starfleet just letting this happen? How come no one has stopped him yet?"

"No one can catch him. He has his whole crew with him now, Captain. All seventy-two super humans are now loose upon the galaxy. You saw how difficult it was to stop even just Khan before. We must tread carefully."

"Well contact headquarters, Mr. Spock. Tell them the Enterprise volunteers for the job!"

"Captain do you really think that would be the most logical course of action?"

Kirk fixed his first officer with a glare.

"Why wouldn't it be, Mr. Spock?"

"Captain," Scotty chimed in finally, "given the history between you and Khan… after what happened last time…"

"We think your emotions might get in the way of the mission if the Enterprise is assigned to it, Jim." Bones finally finished the thought that all three of the men looking intently at the captain were thinking.

"Seriously? Guys, come on. That was almost a year ago. I think after travelling together for this long now I've proved that I'm an emotionally rational and competent captain, right?"

"Yeah Jim but this is different. This is-"

"_Khan_." Spock spoke the name with such intensity that it was clear he was recalling his own face-off with the genetically engineered human a year before.

"I know who it is."

"Captain, are you sure you're not just… you know…" Bones looked uncomfortable finishing the sentence.

"Are you certain that you do not simply want this mission as a revenge scheme to regain the ultimate stand-off that you never got to have with the Enterprise's worst adversary to date?" Spock had no problem finishing the thought.

Kirk fixed them all with a glare, his expression set, and they all knew that arguing anymore would be useless. When Kirk got that look in his eyes, there was never any stopping him.

"Send the message to Starfleet. The Enterprise volunteers to go after Khan."


	6. Prisoner's March

5

Ava felt her whole body on edge as she was marched through the long hallways of the Botany Bay. The inside was just as sinister as the outside, though inside it was more the feeling of the place than the looks. The hallways shone and gleamed with the best materials and technology that had clearly been used to build the ship, but it all felt almost _too_ clean: too sterile. These obvious standards of utter perfection could also be seen in the people walking by. They walked straight and with purpose, their expressions set and their attentions focused on whatever job they were assigned to be completing at that moment. A few turned to glance over at her as she was marched past, but their faces remained blank: utterly void of emotion of any kind. She was a mere observation for them to make before they returned to their duties.

Her heart felt like it was about to pound out of her chest. She did not know where she was being taken or what was to be done with her. Logically, she knew Khan had promised her parents she would be kept safe but she couldn't shake the fear that she was being taken to some back room to be executed immediately. She tried to calm her racing heartbeat, but the dark, towering presence of Khan directly behind her made it hard to maintain composure. She focused on her feet instead, forcing them into each step, one in front of the other: her ceaseless prisoner's march.

Khan steered her past the areas that seemed to be heavily occupied by crewmembers and into an elevator, which took them down to a lower floor. There, it was darker and much quieter. Eerily so, in fact. Ava stared at the line of metal doors on the blank wall. She felt like the sight of them might make her sick. There was something so terrifying about this area of the ship; it gave off an irrepressible feeling of hopelessness and finality, as though once one of those doors closed on Ava, it might never open again. Khan took Ava's upper arm and led her forward as he pressed a button high above their heads to open one of the doors. As it slid to the side, he led her into her lodgings.

The room was small and just as blank as the hallway beyond had been. There was a single bed pushed up against one wall and a toilet, sink, and shower in the corner with a curtain that looked as though it could be pulled around them. There were no windows, no extra provisions, just the barest of necessities. Ava was careful to betray no expression as she surveyed it though; she did not want to display any more signs of weakness in front of her captor. For the first time since they'd entered the ship, he spoke to her again, and she turned slowly to look at him, setting her jaw and fixing him with a glare.

"This is where you will be spending your nights. In the morning, someone will come to fetch you to begin training."

"Training for what?" Ava was relieved to hear her voice came out clear and defiant; the shake that had seeped into it earlier when she'd said goodbye to her parents had gone.

"That will be explained tomorrow."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"Your name is Ava, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, Ava, you shall soon discover that I am Captain of this ship, and my orders are not to be questioned."

His voice was menacing. Ava forced down an angry retort and contented herself with intensifying her glare at him. Khan's face remained stony and cold, but as his eyes slid down to the cuffs still around her wrists a small smirk played around his lips.

"What?" Ava asked, defensively, taking a step back.

"It is just good to be back on the other side."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I've been a prisoner before. To the very organization you and your family pledge your allegiance."

"I'm familiar with the story. Everyone at Starfleet Academy is."

"You were studying with Starfleet Academy?" His eyebrows rose slightly, betraying what might have been a sliver of genuine surprise.

"Yes. I only have half a year left to graduate," Ava told him with pride. "I've even had training from Captain James T. Kirk himself. So you should watch who you're messing with." She felt a thrill of triumph at this declaration. But Khan was not impressed. On the contrary, his face contorted with rage and he turned his back on Ava as his voice rose.

"_Jim Kirk_ is an unremarkable man and Captain, and I do not see the merit in this boast of yours. You are aboard the Botany Bay now. You shall soon discover that the Federation is not all that it paints itself to be."

He fell silent at these cryptic words and turned back to Ava. She did not press the matter: the anger in his voice had shaken her too much and she'd lost her nerve. Instead, she watched silently as he drew a metal disc from his pockets and reached down, placing it into a slot on the back of the cuffs. They opened with a click and slid off. With her arms newly freed again, Ava shook them around in relief, ridding them of their stiffness.

"As I said, you will be fetched in the morning when it is time to begin training. It would be wise to get plenty of sleep."

And then he was gone, the door sliding shut behind him. Ava was closed in.

That night was one of the longest nights of Ava's life. She tossed and turned for hours on the uncomfortable mattress, unable to shut off her thoughts. She felt like a child; wishing she were back at home, spending the school vacation with her parents, getting ready to finish her final semester. Now, she didn't know if she'd ever get to go back. She thought of her friends at school for the first time since she'd boarded the Botany Bay. She thought of her goal to become the captain of her own starship someday. She thought of how easy and planned her life had seemed merely hours before. Now it was all uprooted and twisted around in the blink of an eye.

And who knew what Khan had meant by "training" in the morning, but there was no way that it was going to be pleasant. That much she could surmise.

Sometime around four in the morning, the tears came.


	7. Training

NOTE: _I am so sorry this took so long everyone! It was a hard chapter to write. Plus life and midterms and stuff. But I promise I won't leave you waiting so long next time! Now on with the show _

6

She slept maybe about an hour. All too soon her door was sliding open and a harsh female voice was rousing her.

"It's time to wake up. Your training starts in half an hour. You are to meet the captain in his quarters. Get showered, please."

Ava sighed and did as she was told. She tried to enjoy the rush of hot water running down her but fatigue and worry made it too difficult. As she was finishing up she heard her door open again and the same female voice was back in the room.

"I'm laying out your uniform. You are to change and meet me in the hallway outside. Once you are ready. You have five minutes."

When Ava heard the door close again she quickly set the shower to the "dry" setting and allowed herself to be blow-dried. Then she jumped out and pulled on the uniform.

"Oh hell no," she muttered to herself, looking down at it as she braided her rust-red hair over her shoulder. She was wearing black tennis shoes, skin-tight black capri-pants and a top that was nothing more than a sports bra.

"Problems, Miss?" the guard shouted from the other side of the door. Ava sighed and opened it.

"No. I'm fine." She tried to keep the grumble out of her voice.

"Follow me."

She began to follow her guard down the hallway and into the elevator in silence, finally getting a good look at her. She was a woman who looked about ten years older than Ava: in her thirties, maybe. There was a very severe beauty about her. Her face was hard and set, and she showed as little emotion as Khan always did. Ava was beginning to think this was just a trait of the Botany Bay's crewmembers.

"So what's your name?"

"Drew."

"Drew, well that's a nice name! Is it short for anything?"

"No."

"Oh cool."

The elevator doors slid open and Drew proceeded down another long empty hallway, Ava still following. When she peeked into some of the rooms they passed she could see some crewmembers already hard at work as well.

"So… Are you going to be my guard permanently or…?"

"Yes."

"Nice! Well then this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, huh?"

Ava was being sarcastic of course, but, as she'd somewhat predicted, the humor was lost on the other woman.

"You are a prisoner aboard this ship. I am meant merely to guard you and assist you. The captain has plans for you and I am here to help ensure that they are accomplished."

"Oh the captain has _plans_ for me huh? Well you can tell the Captain-"

"Tell him yourself."

Drew stopped to open a door and nodded for Ava to walk inside.

"I will be back to see you back to your quarters later. The captain awaits."

Ava had enjoyed attempting to joke with the humorless women on the walk here so much that her nerves had subsided for the brief period, but now they all came rushing back. She took a tentative step into the room, the smile sliding from her face, and the door shut with a whoosh behind her.

"Good morning, Ava."

Ava looked around, following his voice. The room was on the stark side; no decorations on the walls, and not much color either. It was all mostly just black and silver. To one side a stiff-looking desk was surrounded by computers and other blinking devices sat next to a door that was slightly ajar, showing a crisply-made bed in a room beyond. To the other side was a chrome kitchen with a table in front of it, laid out with mountains of breakfast food. That was where Khan sat.

"What is this?" Ava asked, walking forward hesitantly.

"Come now, I thought you were more observant than that. It's breakfast. Now sit, have a bite. Eat lots of carbohydrates. You're going to need your energy."

"Okay…" Ava took a seat tentatively, feeling extremely confused. "For what? Training?"

"Correct."

"Fine. But what's up with the outfit?" She motioned to her rather scant attire. "I'll do whatever you say as long as it keeps my parents safe. But I'm not here to be some sex object, okay?"

Khan stared at her. For a moment she thought she was in trouble but then she thought she saw something of a smirk on his face. Or maybe it was a grimace. It was hard to tell with him.

"Your training clothes are designed as they are to provide you the optimal abilities for speed, agility, flexibility, and endurance. You will need all of those abilities to complete your daily exercises."

"So are you finally going to tell me what this is all about or…"

"You have been selected."

"For what?"

"You are going to become the newest member of my crew. The first in hundreds of years."

"What… what do you mean?"

"We have developed a serum that will make any human like us: all of our abilities, all of our strength, everything that makes us _super_human. You know about our genetic superiorities, correct?"

"Well yeah I guess if that's what you want to call them."

"We are better. At everything. We can run faster, jump higher, tire less quickly, fight more efficiently. We are the future of the human race. And you get to be part of that future. But you must be prepared first."

"Why?"

"Because we have to ensure that your body is strong enough to accept the serum once it is administered. So you will be trained."

Ava blinked, for once at a loss for something to say. Her heart was pounding.

"The process… would it change me? My personality?"

"Such side-effects are considered irrelevant."

"Irrelevant? I don't want to lose who I am…"

"It is either that or lose everyone you hold most dear."

Ava stared at him, directly into his blank eyes. She couldn't see any sign of humanity behind them at all. No mercy, no pity. His last word echoed around the empty room in those deep, icy, tones: its threat clear. She felt a lump rising in her throat, but fought it down.

"Fine," she choked out finally. Hearing the break in her voice she cleared her throat and spoke out more clearly. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of witnessing her pain. "Fine. I'll do it."

She dug into eggs and bacon, determinedly averting her eyes. As they ate in silence, she could feel him watching her.

Once she'd finished eating, Khan led Ava to a gym down the hall. It was a vast room, with mirrors on all the walls and various machines designed for different purposes: treadmills, bikes, weights, an elliptical machine as well. In the middle was a giant mat.

"Your daily routine will be designed to build up your endurance and skills. Begin by stretching please."

Ava hesitated, glancing over at him, but he turned his back to her, motioning for her to walk over to the mat. She began to stretch as instructed; going off of what physical training she'd had from Starfleet Academy. Khan paced around pressing buttons on a touch-screen tablet, his footsteps tapping hollowly around Ava. Ava leaned her arm over to one side over her head, feeling her muscles wake up and shake off their stiffness. She appreciated the stretch but didn't like the silence deafening in the room.

"Couldn't you… turn on some music, or something?"

"What?"

"You know? Like something upbeat? To help me get pumped up and keep going?"

"You should not need such distractions. Focus on yourself, building up your own strength. You should not depend on anyone or anything else. Now starting with the treadmill…"

The work out started off easy enough. Ava could go about twenty minutes on the treadmill without even breaking much of a sweat thanks to her training from Starfleet. But by the thirty-minute mark she was panting and by the forty-minute mark she was sweating profusely. She was starting to wonder how long Khan would make her run, but she could feel his eyes on her back and hear his fingers tapping on his touch-screen and forced herself to keep going. She thought of her parents and what they must be going through back on Astraea, their planet. She pictured horrifying images of Gideon and Shatara forcing her parents to work for them and imposing terrible laws on the people, stripping them of their rights, forcing them all to work as slaves for Khan's new empire…

The thoughts sent enough anger coursing through her so that she managed to keep herself going on the treadmill until the time hit sixty-minutes and Khan told her to stop. As Ava stepped off to walk some cool-down laps around the room, she was breathing hard and glaring, ready for whatever challenge came next.

"Move to the mat and lie down," Khan instructed. "It's time for your core exercises. Begin with reaching sit-ups. We'll start with one-hundred today but by next week you should already have moved up to two-hundred."

Ava began, doing as she was told, reaching out her arm out to the side of her curled-up legs in a sort of punching motion with every sit-up. Like with the treadmill, she found the work easy for awhile, but it grew harder with time.

"Are you keeping count? Because I lost count," she said to Khan breathlessly as she made one turn back up again.

"I'm counting," he confirmed. Ava tried to push aside her thoughts of discomfort. For all the unease the situation seemed like it might bring about, Khan remained as clinical and mechanical as ever. She wasn't a sexual plaything to him, as part of her had been worried she would be, but rather more of a test subject to study. Although she wasn't sure that was necessarily any better.

The more sit-ups she did, the more her abdominal muscles seemed to be screaming in pain, but once again she made herself keep going. Her anger continued, along with the fear of what kind of punishment too much rebellion on her part might incite. Finally, after more seconds that seemed more like hours, Khan told her to stop. However immediately after, she was sent into a number of other core-training exercises.

_My abs are going to be so sore in the morning_… she thought. But she knew she'd have to power through it. She forced herself to keep going. Finally, after a couple more hours of the same, Khan released her for lunch.

She ate in the ship's cafeteria with the rest of the crew, but it was an eerily quiet affair, just like everything aboard the Botany Bay had been so far. No one talked with one another save to relay information in extremely businesslike tones, and no one smiled or laughed. The food was adequate: typical starship food as was to be expected. Ava had some pasta with red sauce on it, and she knew that she should be thankful that she was not refined to the prisoner's quarters and given lesser food to eat. Still, she couldn't help but feel like the entire ship in itself was a prison, even if its inhabitants didn't realize it.

After lunch, she went to re-join Khan in their training room, only to be greeted by the sight of him shirtless, lifting weights five times heavier than what a normal man should have been able to manage. And yet he'd hardly broken a sweat. She cleared her throat to announce her presence, as it seemed he'd been too wrapped up in his lifting to notice her. He turned to face her, not wasting another moment to get back to business.

"The second part of your training each day will be sparring practice. You will be taught to fight at a higher level than you ever have before. Getting groundwork in this area before you are administered the serum will help to ensure that these practices will be molded into you by the time you are ready. So for now, because physically I am automatically superior in every way, I will go easy on you. We shall focus mainly on the theory and tactics of hand-to-hand combat with real-time demonstration."

"Okay." Ava eyed his extremely well built, naked torso and, although annoyed at his patronizing tone, also felt slightly relieved that he was going to take it easy on her because just looking at those biceps made her fairly certain that he could snap her neck in a second's notice if he wanted to.

"… so if I were to strike a blow from this direction you would…?"

Ava, who was still staring at Khan's biceps, was caught off guard, but she snapped back to attention at the last second to block the blow almost reflexively.

"Very good," Khan smirked. He actually looked slightly pleased with her, if she wasn't much mistaken. "It would appear that Starfleet are not completely inadequate teachers after all. But what about a more difficult maneuver?"

They were in full boxing mode now, bouncing on tiptoe, arms at eye level, and fists at the ready. Ava focused, angered at how weak she'd been to be distracted by Khan's obvious physical perfection before. So he was hot. So what? He had still invaded her planet, threatened her parents, and was holding her prisoner. She couldn't let her guard down again.

She did her best to block his blows wherever she could and even got in a few blows on him that would have winded a normal man. But Khan also managed to get a few hits on her that she was positive were going to leave her with bruises to accompany her muscle aches tomorrow, one of which even knocked her to the ground. Even as he took her hand to help her back up, Khan's expression was unfeeling as he simply stated, "do not leave any weak point on the body unattended if possible. You had an easy block there. Again."

Ava lost track of how long sparring practice must have gone on, but finally, after what seemed like forever, Khan called it off. He remained as stoic and collected as ever, while Ava was panting and sweating.

"Same time, same routine tomorrow," he told her as she turned to leave.

"Oh, I look forward to it," she answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Out in the hallway, Drew was waiting to take her back to her sleeping quarters. Ava did not try to engage the other woman in conversation again, as she was too tired to think of anything but collapsing onto the stiff mattress when she got back to her room.

Training was hard. Life aboard the S.S. Botany Bay was hard. Ava was beginning to think that if she did not find a way to shake things up soon, she might go insane.

_Besides_… she thought later as she lay in bed, just before she drifted off to sleep, _I need to think up some kind of plan soon if I want to avoid getting turned into some egomaniacal, elitist robot-person._

Right then and there she vowed to herself that she would find a way out, no matter what it took.


End file.
